Spiritual Naturism
To adopt Naturism as a spiritual platform for Athma Vichara Yoga Tantra. To integrate Naturism with Spiritual well being. Nakedness in body & mind and to go beyond...Brahma Nirvaanam .
- created by AthmaYoga_Tantra
How does your spiritual background influence your current nudist practices and beliefs?
Return to DiscussionsAs the US becomes more secularized, it seems that the term religious seems to be more negative and spiritual more positive. Additional words of soul devotion also continue to evolve: sports fan, brand loyal or special designations for rock star groupies, etc. Im curious to learn more about how readers faith/spirituality of origin influence their current nudist beliefs and practices.
As a Wiccan/Pagan, many rituals/ ceremonies are practiced outdoors, barefoot & totally nude in a completely non-sexual way. In short, it is a way to commune with nature in the natural way. Yes, being a Wiccan influences my nudism to a very high degree!:-) MM & BB
Hundo
I grew up with a bipolarized view of nudity. My immigrant parents were body positive as per their Nordic culture, whereas we settled into a strong ethnic evangelical enclave in the Midwestern US suburbs. As a result, I often feel like Im a recovering Puritan who drank the Kool-Aide because it was the only beverage around. When this healing started in my 20s I realized I didnt want to go from one extreme of body shame to the other of being a body slut, but had no idea of how to find some mystery golden middle.
Nudism has been a good teacher of body and sexual acceptance, openness and positivity. It fits in well with the Swedish disdain for hypocrisy, or double morals as they say. The golden middle continues to prove itself simple in theory and hard in practice: show up naked in body, mind and spirit and let go of the results. Whereas I like to avoid terms ending with ism, I acknowledge nudism as a good teacher.
As a Wiccan/Pagan, many rituals/ ceremonies are practiced outdoors, barefoot & totally nude in a completely non-sexual way. In short, it is a way to commune with nature in the natural way. Yes, being a Wiccan influences my nudism to a very high degree!:-) MM & BBHundo
Your Wiccan/Pagan practices sound amazing. I have explored them here and found them primarily either Goddess-oriented or exclusively gay male. I've also explored my Nordic paganism called Asatru to find it more white supremacist than spiritual. Paganism has a ways to evolve here in the Midwest!
My Christian faith is important to me and I've wrestled with issues of nudity/sex/body acceptance for many years because of my faith and the conservative culture I come from. However, as I get older, I'm slowly realizing those two areas of my life (Christianity and nudism) don't have to be mutually exclusive. ... Also, the more time I spend naked outside, the more of a connection I feel to the Earth and to my Creator. I become more in tune with some of my senses that are muted when I'm clothed. And it stirs in an awe and a deeper desire to worship God as the Creator of all.
Although nudist Christian sound like an oxymoron, I agree it doesnt have to be. Theres a term in Christianity called panentheism, that Gods spirit is embedded in everything. That has many similarities to the outdoor nudism you describe. Keep on rockin!
If Im to tell the truth ( a truth thats perhaps true for most ) I dont fully understand how Ive gotten to where I am as a man and a naturist. However I can say with certainty that my spiritual / religious upbringing has been centrally formative. As a man who was raised conservative Roman Catholic and knew Cardinals, Archbishops and bishops etc personally growing up I might have been expected to become a priest. But I quietly rejected the shame culture as soon as I was capable of thinking independently - perhaps from about 8 yrs old. Sadly I became one of the betrayed children and was sexually abused by a member of the clergy. ...My naturism exemplifies core beliefs of celebration of the beauty of our humanity and of all of nature, a belief in equality and liberal openness ... but most of all an abiding gratitude for the beauty of creation and our part in it.
Thanks for your post which is both profoundly sad, moving and inspiring. You are the gift.
It has no influence on my nudist practices. I'm a lifelong Christian. I'm exactly the same person on Saturday at the nude beach and Sunday at church. I think clothes were plan B! Adam & Eve only made them after they were ashamed.